"Vathek is an Eastern tale, written before the author had attained his twentieth year, and was composed as a single sitting of three days and two nights. For more than seventy years, it has held the highest rank among similar works of imagination. It was a great favorite of Byron, who preferred it even to "Rasselas." In its descriptions of oriental costumes and the manners of the people, its correctness has been established by writers of judgment, and, for 'exquisite humor and supernatural interest and grandeur,' is declared to stand without a rival in romance"
Review by Godey's Lady's Book, Literary Notices, May 1854